Vegetable Soup.

Vegetable soup.

I don't know about you, but when I read those words I cringe. It does not sound like dinner and if someone invited me over and announced that was what we were having, I'd figure on needing a real dinner later! 

But I'm trying something new. My knee had hit a point where the improvement had stopped. I could just shrug my shoulders and get some pain medications and plan to use a cane for the rest of my life- but that isn't in me. So I found a book called Clean Cuisine. That part of the title didn't appeal (ugh. Another diet book? As if the world needs more...) but it was further labeled an anti-inflammatory diet. Perfect for trauma induced arthritis! While reading, it appears as though there is good potential that following a 'clean' eating program would also help with other health issues I'm facing. I had no idea inflammation was responsible for so many issues in the human body!

In a nutshell it says move more, eat more fruit and veggies, eat less meat, and replace processed foods with whole grains. Oh, and of course: no sugar! So yes, there is more to it than that but like I said: nutshell. For a carnivore such as myself the idea of eating less meat is far less appealing than those high protein diets. But I like the idea of a kinder way of eating and the science makes sense. So, this brings us back to the dreaded vegetable soup. 

For those like me who wonder what the heck a fennel bulb looks like.

I'm in week one of trying new recipes and decided to dive right in by making The Easy Vegetable Soup Recipe. I did adjust a couple of things- since I couldn't find collards I used swiss chard and since this was dinner and I like it a bit more filling, I increased the broth to six cups and added a couple cups of cooked barley. The kids were seriously unimpressed (my son mainly because of the lack of meat) but me? Wow! Its got some zest to it, its colorful, its filling, and I didn't miss the meat. I'll do a couple things differently next time to cut cost. I'll be omitting the fennel (that sucker was $5!) and replacing the red pepper with a green one. I'll also add mushrooms for texture...

And there we have it. I won't turn this into a recipe blog but when I find something this fantastic? Gotta share it.